Organiser Graeme Parry, who is deaf and blind, sold hundreds of tickets for up to £200 a time to people wanting to meet former Docs Colin Baker and Paul McGann.

But when he learned most of the 35 actors and scriptwriters he booked had pulled out of the two-day Shadow Proclamation event, he cancelled it.

Baker, 71, who was the Time Lord for two years from 1984, told Twitter followers he would not be turning up at the event at Middlesbrough Town Hall “due to insurmountable contractual issues”.

He added: “Sorry for the fans.”

The day before the convention was due to start McGann, 54, who became the eighth Doctor in 1996, tweeted: “Sad to hear this weekend’s Middlesbrough event had to be cancelled so late in the day. Bad news for all attending.”

“Sad to hear this weekend’s Middlesbrough event had to be cancelled so late in the day. Bad news for all attending”

Paul McGann

And Louise Jameson, 63, who played Leela in the mid-1970s when Tom Baker was the Doctor, tweeted: “Dear all, with regret I am pulling out of this coming weekend at Middlesbrough due to some serious contractual discrepancies.”

Up to 900 fans had been expected at the convention, despite the cheapest tickets costing £50, with extra charges of £10 each for their heroes to autograph memorabilia.

Mr Parry, 35, a tax officer from Ormesby, near Middlesbrough, has met at least five Doctors including Sylvester McCoy, 71, and Peter Davison, 63, at previous fans’ conventions.

He admitted: “I’ve been having some issues with getting payments to people.

“I’ve been sending it to them and for whatever reasons, which I’m still looking into, they were telling me they were not receiving it. I’m devastated.”

Doubts about the Shadow Proclamation convention – named after the galactic government in Doctor Who – surfaced when Mr Parry said on Facebook he was struggling to supply special T-shirts for fans who bought the most expensive tickets.

Now he is promising a refund for everyone who bought a ticket.

He said: “When most of the actors said they weren’t going to come I couldn’t run an event without the main people turning up.

“I just want to reiterate my apology to anyone who will, understandably, be very disappointed.”